Assemblies for organizing household articles suspended on non-porous surfaces such as tile, glass and walls have evolved over the past decade with increased popularity based on convenience and design choice. For instance, Lindsey U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,141 describes a shower kit for holding toiletries, and Urbano U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,346 describes a wall-mounted soap dish, both of which are adapted to attach onto non-porous surfaces via suction cups.
Some art-recognized devices are suspended from the shower arm or pipe which extends from the wall of a bath area and are stabilized with suction cups on the lower aspects of the assembly. A representative example is provided in Chapman Design Pat. No. 251,522 which depicts a coated wire frame shower caddy for holding toiletries which is stabilized from side-ways movement with split tunnel suction cups. In such suction cups, the point of attachment to the wire frame is a slit in the rear or "knob" of the suction cup which engages the coated wire, parallel with respect to the plane of the attachment surface.
Another example is provided in Schoenfelder U.S. Pat. No. 1,694,235 which describes a coated wire frame soap dish for attaching to a non-porous surface with knob-piercing suction cups. The coated wire frame assembly provides specific arms for penetrating the rear knob of the suction cup perpendicularly with respect to the plane of the attachment surface. Variations in the knob-piercing-type suction cups include those described in Conteiro U.S. Pat. No. 1,325,143 and Wilt U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,602. More specifically, Conteiro describes a corner mounted, shower bracket for holding bath articles which uses a plurality of knob-piercing suction cups designed to be pierced with conventional screws which hold the knobs against mounting bars. Similarly, Wilt discloses an automobile dash mount which uses a knob-piercing suction cup for penetration by a conventional screw which holds the pierced knob against a mounting bracket.
A second type of suction cup is referred to herein as a "button knob" suction cup. Such suction cups do not require holes in the rear knobs for attachment and examples are described in Isenberg Design Pat. No. 121,813, Wright U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,537 and Brewster U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,046. Essentially, all three patents show assemblies for vertical suspension from flat, non-porous surfaces via button knob suction cups. These cups have a frontal aspect having the suction portion for adhering to a flat surface and a rear portion comprised of a knob onto which is suspended the weight of the holding assembly.
More specifically, Isenberg discloses a coated wire frame soap dish which is adapted to be suspended from button knobs of suction cups which are inserted between adjacent, parallel coated wires and held in place by the bias provided between the parallel wires. Wright shows a molded soap holder having punched holes in the rear walls through which the knobs are inserted, followed by mounting of the suction cups to a non-porous surface wall. The weight of the soap holder is suspended from the punched, non-adjustable holes. Brewster teaches a coated wire, baby bottle holder which have loops formed in the superior aspects of the wire frame for suspending the assembly from button knobs of suction cups.
Downing U.S. Pat. No. 1,531,694 discloses a variant on the button knob suction cup. Downing shows a suction cup with a groove in its rear knob which is adapted for engagement to portions of a key-hole opening in a mounting bracket.
Weiant U.S. Pat. No. 2,044,520 describes a soap dish which is adapted for attachment to a flat surface via suction cups having, in their rear knobs, a hole or tunnel which is parallel with respect to the plane of the flat surface. Emery U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,014,860 and 5,289,927 also disclose suction cups each having a tunnel in the rear knob which is parallel with respect to the plane of the attachment surface. Horizontal portions of the wire frame are inserted into the tunnels on the rear knob of the suction cups and the cups can then slide horizontally along the wire frame for adjustment.
Despite such known improvements, a need yet exists in the art for newer suction cup attachments with improved grip, holding and weight bearing capacity. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lock device for holding suction cups for suspending assemblies from flat surfaces.
Another object of the present invention is to provide improvements in suction cups and their corresponding locking members for suspending assemblies from flat surfaces.
These and other objects will become apparent from the disclosure provided hereinbelow.